Nolan U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,534 discloses a clamp 36 for a drainable ostomy pouch 10, the clamp having a thin wedge member 40 and a channel-defining trough member 38. The two parts are hinged together at one end of the clamp and, at the clamp's opposite end, have a latch 46, 52 for securing the members in closed condition. While the members are generally planar, they preferably have a slight longitudinal curvature to conform with the contour of the patient's body as indicated generally in FIGS. 1 and 3. In use, the lower end of a pouch is reversely folded about the lower edge of the blade-like wedge member 40 (FIG. 5) and the clamp is then closed to seal the folded end portion of the pouch in the channel (FIG. 4).
In the aforementioned patent, the wedge and trough members are separate elements that are connected together by a hook-like hinge member 50; however, similar products have been marketed by the patentee with an integral and flexible strap hinge joining the members together. In either case, when such a clamp is fully opened, the hinge means allows a wide range of relative twisting movement of the parts. Once such a clamp is closed, the latching means at one end securely locks the members together at that end of the clamp. At the clamp's opposite end, however, the members are essentially held together by the hinge. While the likelihood of damage to such a hinge may not be great, should such damage occur, to the extent that the hinge connection is broken, forceable separation of the members and release of the clamp would be possible.
Accordingly, an important aspect of this invention lies in providing an improved clamp having a thin, blade-like extension at the hinge end of the wedge member for the plural purposes of guiding the members as the clamp is being closed and for reinforcing the hinge and holding the members together even if the hinge should somehow rupture or break in use.
Briefly, the improvement comprises a thin, integral guide blade that is generally coplanar with the wedge member and extends in an endwise direction from one end of that member. The guide blade is spaced below the hinge and has a smoothly curved peripheral edge that merges with the bottom edge of the wedge member. Particularly effective results are achieved if the curved peripheral edge is generally semi-circular in outline.
The guide blade is received in a slit-like end opening of the trough member. The upper limits of that opening are defined by a end wall that bridges the channel of the trough member and provides bearing means for engaging the guide blade and for camming the end of the wedge member into the channel during the final stages of a clamping operation.
Other features, advantages, and objects of the invention will become apparent from the specification and drawings.